Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, December 23, 2017

Mountain View News Saturday, December 23, 2017 
3 
Mountain View News Saturday, December 23, 2017 
3 
Walking Sierra Madre…The Social Side 

by Deanne Davis 


“That First Noel’s come ‘round again,
Just like it does each year,
To tell us it’s Christmas, finally it’s Christmas, 
Joyfully it’s Christmas, 
The best time of the year, the best time of the year...” 


This particular song goes on to tell us that the tree is 
in the window, the wreath is on the door, and about 
a million ornaments are scattered on the floor! Most 
probably you’re way past that stage, the tree is up 
and gorgeous. You finally untangled the lights and 
put the angel up on top. But here’s the question 
you’ll be facing in a few days when the presents are 
all unwrapped and everything you got everybody fit 
and was exactly what they wanted! Why is it that 
putting up Christmas decorations, is so much more 
fun than taking them down. Also, why is it that the 
Christmas decorations that seem so few and so light 
as you take them out of the basement and up the 
stairs have doubled (like wire hangers) in size and 
tripled in weight and you can’t remember when on 
earth you carried all those up. The Christmas hats 
on cactus as pictured always makes me smile!

Playing Christmas music and rediscovering 
each cute little Christmas item is such fun and then 
deciding where to put each one is a pleasure. I’m 
especially partial to all my little lighted houses. My 
mother started collecting them many years ago and 
gave her collection to me. I have added to it over the 
years and now think I have about twenty of them. 
They look fantastic on the piano, behind the couch 
and on the maple hutch in the dining room. They all 
stayed in their boxes this year as my best buddy and 
Christmas decoration admirer is spending his first 
Christmas in heaven and maybe they’ll reappear 
next year. 

After much discussion among our adult children, 
Idid get out Santa’s Band, which was John’s favorite 
Christmas decoration. Many years ago he went to 
Costco and came home with his eyes alight and 
excitement spilling out of his every word as he 
described this wonderful band of little men attached 
to bells and electrically driven so every time you 
turned it on, it played a Christmas carol. They had 
quite a repertoire and the band was led, of course, by 
Santa. John went to Costco several times and came 
home each time with more stories of the glories of 
Santa’s Band. I finally took his hand, looked deep 
into his eyes and said, “Ya know, honey, you can buy 
Santa’s Band yourself, with your own money!” He 
had never thought of that. Back he went and Santa’s 
Band decorated the top of one of our bookcases 
every year from then on. Yes, it got up there after 
I spent an hour untangling all the wires, bells and 
little people, but he loved it. Apparently, all the 

children loved it, too, and there was lively discussion 
over who should have Santa’s Band. Our daughter, 
Patti, ended up with it and I was happy to hand it 
over and let her untangle all those wires and bells.

We all have special nostalgic goodies that fill 
our hearts with memories and happy thoughts. 
Pictures of our children taken in Sunday School, our 
grandchildren’s little hands and feet on ceramic tiles, 
tiny felt Christmas stockings with everyone’s name 
on them in glued on glitter. I even have little glass 
ornaments which were my Aunt Helen’s, dating 
from the ‘30s. . 

When we were first married, we rented a lovely 
house with a high beamed ceiling up on Canon 
Drive, right behind where Christian author, Fay 
Angus lived, and when our first Christmas together 
arrived, I was about hysterical with excitement. We 
went down to the railroad yards where trains were 
coming in from wherever they loaded on those trees, 
I have a feeling it was the Pacific Northwest. Railroad 
workers pitched them off the cars and anyone who 
was standing there could pick out whatever tied-up 
tree they wanted. I don’t remember it costing very 
much. We selected an enormous Noble fir and tied it 
to the top of our little blue Ford Falcon. Got it home 
and it had to have been ten feet tall or taller and was 
the most gorgeous thing we’d ever seen. We had just 
a few things to put on it, but it was our tree and our 
home and our children opened presents under it 
and I will remember always what a wonderful time 
that was. 

The song up at the beginning goes on to say: 

“But that’s not the reason we celebrate the season... 
Oh, it’s that baby in the manger,
Christ child in the manger,
Mary kneeling by his side,
Joseph beaming down with pride.
Peace on earth, good will to men,
We celebrate that night again.” 


I’m hoping all your Christmas memories are 
merry and bright! To quote Tiny Tim from Dickens’ 
A Christmas Carol, “God Bless us every one!” 

My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis

 “Star of Wonder – A Christmas Story”
Is available there. This is a wonderful Christmas 
Love Story...trust me!
Star of Wonder the CD is now on TuneCore! 
Featuring this song! Take a look!
Blog: HYPERLINK “http://www.authordeanne. 
com” www.authordeanne.com 
Follow me on Twitter, too! https://twitter.com/@
playwrightdd 


SIERRA MADRE ROSE FLOAT 
ASSOCIATION 
NEEDS YOUR HELP! 


SMRFA is also looking for VOLUNTEERS!
Volunteers are needed to help with a wide variety 
of tasks including people who can run errands 
and help with sales. 

For more information on how you can help, contact Bonnie Colcher, at volunteers@
smrosefloat.org or leave a message at the float barn (626-355-7005)
and include your name, phone number and how you would like to get involved. 


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com